3sixteen's Latest

Usually, when a brand releases their look book, it evokes a certain theme for the season, putting the clothes into context. For a brand like New York-based 3sixteen, which is now focused solely on denim, that meant taking their signature product outside of the realm of rugged outdoorsiness. Co-founder Andrew Chen gave us some insight behind his process for both the look book and the label.

The photographer, Justin Chung, has been a fan of the brand for some time now and actually reached out to us. He also tapped a great model, Remington Guest, to help out. We don't really have seasonal releases of denim, but we're passionate about putting clothing on the market that's worthwhile to purchase. We wanted to showcase our fits and fabrics, the high quality components and solid construction in a way that helped show off their versatility.

And because jeans can be worn a variety of ways, Chen also included two pairs of worn-in jeans lent to them by customers—giving an idea of how the denim breaks in over time. One of their more unique options is an overdyed shadow selvedge denim, giving the jeans a saturated indigo look.

We aren't just jean manufacturers; we're textile developers. The fabric that we use for our flagship jeans is custom woven for us to our exact specifications in Okayama, Japan. Few American jean brands can say this. Most customers don't know that denim brands typically use stock fabrics: stuff that's woven in bulk and can be bought and used by anyone. What that means is that a bunch of jeans on the market are pretty much the same, just with different fits and different leather patches. We utilize open-ended weft yarns, giving the inside an extremely soft hand. If you've put on raw jeans before, you've probably found them to be stiff, crunchy and uncomfortable. Ours are very easy to break in.

The brand's logo patches are made from heavyweight leather crafted by Portland's Tanner Goods.